An orange glow.
In the side of his vision, other than the darkness came. That light had its edges blurred with the rest. Just barely even there.
Moments later, the light came, and the warmth followed. He felt as if he were on a beach under the sun, as its waves directly made contact with his body. As though the beach he was on was in the middle of nowhere. An island within the great ocean. On it, he was lying on the sand when a beach ball hit him. He got up, wondering where it came from, just to then watch the island get swarmed by boats. That orange glow was that boat. Or, to be more precise, it was the beach ball, carried by the wind to him.
That glow started to overcome the darkness and replaced his vision with a warm tone, almost burning his eyelids in the midst of the storm. It got to where he had to squint a little when that stinging pain attacked his nerves.
When he lost the fight against the glow, he opened them up, fully taking in the sight.
The sun shone brightly, piercing through the layers of clouds and casting its golden light directly into the man's eyes. His eyes reflected that dazzling light back to where it came from as the atmosphere around him changed, making it slightly brighter and warmer.
Lying on his back, he extended his hand towards the sun, watching the light illuminate his hand as the edges of his fingers glowed orange where the sun shone through. The rain dribbled down his hand, illuminating the sparkling light within it. His hand reached further and further, attempting to grab it. When he closed his hand, the entire sun resided within it. The light lit his hands from behind, casting a shadow over his face.
He took his hand away and released the sun back into the sky.
I can't stop now.
He slowly rose from the ground, putting his fists on the ground and pushing his body up. His knuckles got bruised, though; that was a small price to pay. Sure, it hurt him; after all, forcing himself up with the sheer strength of his fragile bones wasn't something he was practicing regularly. Someone like him would very much prefer to lie low, never attempting to get up.
But now, something changed.
He had no idea why he couldn't let it be. Rest.
There was a part of him that refused to do that. A part that, for the longest time, wasn't allowed to be with him. That part was the only reason he even went outside. He could blame it for making him miserable. Though, he would lose the moment when they would discuss who made that kind of pain in the first place.
Now he listened. Listened to the only thing he should have all those years.
Not the voices in his head, nor the people who wanted his destruction, even if those people only lived in his memories. The only one he never listened to. The person he should've listened to…
Himself.
Not the one that was forced to be created, but the one that was there from the beginning. The one that had to be buried to keep himself there among the living.
The real him.
It kept him alive all that time. And the man kept that part of himself there. Both refused to let go of one another.
The man, fully raised, walked over to the knocked-over cup.
He bent down and picked it up.
The rain was all over it; outside, dribbling down; inside, getting closer to being filled to the brim. Though, along with the coffee, the rain too had spilled. Only a little was left in both, completely changing the once pure black color of the coffee to something lighter.
The bottom of the cup was visible. It was unclear, but there was no mistaking that the coffee had become transparent enough to let him see it.
The inside of that cup was white. Being the polar opposite of what that coffee used to be, but now, the two weren't that far off. Even if they won't ever be the same, their value was closer than ever before.
Watching the inside of the cup, the man looked up.
The sun was still there, shining ever so brightly, widening the gap between the clouds with each passing second just a little more than before.
The rain still fell. The clouds were still dark.
But the man wasn't focusing on the clouds that surrounded him, nor on the rain pouring down on him and on the cup, with no end. He had spent enough time worrying about those kinds of things. Now, however, the golden sky was before him.
He continued walking, following the light.
His cup filled with more rain, plunging into his rainy coffee, creating small circles of waves inside it.
The man knew that the sun was still out of reach. So he picked up his pace and started jogging, before he broke into a run, leaping above the ground with grand motion.
This time around, he looked toward the path before him. Just about where the middle of the light and the road was. With that, he could make sure nothing would stop him, and if something tried, he'd keep running, jumping over it, never losing the motion that propelled him towards the edge of the storm.
All he did was run. Ran until he caught up to the end of it. Never once looking back or stopping.
Time was short, and he still wanted to see the end of his journey without facing the parts that would tell him what he never did.
The state of his body caught up with him. His breathing heavy and uneven. His body burned from all the pain he had. He temporarily let all of them go when he fell on the ground. His consciousness kept balancing his internal state and his physical exhaustion, making sure that the two could coexist and that he could get to his destination on time.
Can… Can I really do this?
Even if, after all this time, I've never done a single thing?
Will I make it…this time?
Doubt flooded in. He was finally in motion, and even then, his thoughts didn't leave. For him, that was impossible. It was inevitable that he would ultimately succumb to himself.
However…
The man kept running.
Not knowing if he would ever reach the sunlight, he didn't stop.
I'm gonna fail.
I'll die without accomplishing a thing.
It's over.
Stop running!
Only disappointment follows where you go.
Inside his head, more thoughts gathered.
Even so, he ran.
Muscles could barely function, aching and burning under the pressure. His forehead was not covered with rain, but by his own sweat. Hands entering and leaving his vision. Hair constantly covered his vision as it bounced up and down, out and back, as he was sprinting where the light led him.
At some point, he closed his eyes, though not entirely, just enough to only feel the dazzling warmth of the sun on him.
He closed off the aching pain; the rain on his skin that made his clothes soaked, weighing him down; the constant resistance of the wind trying to push him back. All that was now outside his goal.
For the first time in his life, he only felt the warm calmness in his body.
Eventually, the light came close to him, spreading the entire sky inside of it.
He made it outside.